New computers must be loaded with a significant amount of software, including the operating system of the computer. Additionally, programs called “drivers” must be loaded. “Drivers” facilitate communication with hardware such as mice, keyboards, printers, monitors, etc. that are associated with the computer. Also to be loaded are various user programs, typically referred to as “applications”, including word processing programs, Internet browsers, email programs, etc.
Not surprisingly, the loading of new computers with software has become automated. Software deployment mechanisms such as IBM=s ImageUltra7 technology automatically detect the hardware that is being installed in a system (so that the correct drivers can be loaded) and dynamically “deploy”, from an initial service partition into the operational regions of the HDD, the correct drivers and the native operating system. This provides a highly flexible mechanism to load software onto new computers.
As understood herein, the above-mentioned software deployment mechanism, while effective, consumes a lengthy amount of time. That is, while ImageUltra7 has a comprehensive database of various drivers, applications, and so on that can be loaded onto a new computer, it provides this support at the cost of time. For example, when it uses a Microsoft “Unattended Installation” process, forty five to ninety minutes can be required to install just the base operating system, after which applications are added which can add another twenty minutes to an hour to the process. Given these two installation phases, well over an hour can be required to load a computer with the necessary software. This can seem excessive in light of the relatively shorter time that some simpler and less comprehensive deployment mechanisms require, although these simpler systems disadvantageously are not hardware independent.
The present invention critically recognizes that some other deployment mechanisms exist, such as so-called “Sysprep” technology, that allow an operating system, hardware drivers, and core applications to be contained in a single package, also referred to herein as an “image”, that quickly can be loaded into a new computer, significantly reducing the times noted above. The present invention further understands, however, that such image-based deployment mechanisms disadvantageously require hardware drivers to be contained in the image before the deployment process is started, meaning that some detected hardware might not be supported and; hence, that some required drivers will be missing. Moreover, post-processing steps contained within the image are locked in place. While the present invention recognizes that these limitations can be addressed by pushing driver files and post install files into the image before starting the deployment process, this would require that the base image either is in FAT32 format so it can be accessed from DOS (since the native operating system will not yet have been loaded) and/or use of a tool that can copy files from DOS into non-DOS partition types. Such non-DOS partition types are critical for customers desiring New Technology File System (NTFS)-based solutions.
As recognized herein, unfortunately DOS-based copying tools are very slow, thus offsetting the time gain. And, changes in a NTFS-based environment potentially may not be supported by the copying tool, making the use of DOS-based copying tools even less desirable. Having made the above critical observations, the present invention has been provided.